Trends and Issues in Terrorism

ISSUES IN TERRORISM

Essay 1

On the 11th of September 2001, terrorists linked to the Al-Qaeda group carried out a coordinated bombing attack in the United States, leading to the death of close to 3,000 people. On one hand, the catastrophic event opened the nation’s eyes to the threat of terrorism. In a bid to protect the nation from future terrorist attacks, the government took a series of statutory, law-enforcement, and bureaucratic actions (Department of Justice (DOJ), 2006). This text details some of these actions and outlines ways in which they have been effective or inadequate.

The most significant statutory change that took place almost immediately was the passage of the Patriotic Act by Congress, which gave law-enforcement agencies the absolute right to eavesdrop, monitor financial transactions, conduct searches without a warrant, and deport or detain suspected terrorists. Despite a series of court rulings rendering the detentions and unwarranted searches unconstitutional, the Patriotic Act was extended in 2006 to allow law-enforcement officers to use the law and technology to disrupt terrorist activities and eavesdrop on terror suspects. On the law-enforcement front, the role of the FBI was restructured to better penetrate, detect, and disrupt terrorist activities (Department of Justice, n.d). Major changes included increasing the number of linguists and analysts, establishing a central FBI National Security Branch, and creating Field Intelligence Groups in all of the FBI’s 56 field offices (Department of Justice, n.d.).

Another significant change under law-enforcement was the creation of the Department of National Security under the Justice Department in 2006 (Department of Justice, n.d.). The new division, which brought together the former Counterespionage Office, Counterterrorism Section, and the Intelligence and Policy Review Section sought to improve the efficiency of counterterrorism efforts. This resulted in improved coordination between law enforcement agencies and intelligence attorneys, lowering of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) wall between law-enforcement and intelligence investigations, increased staffing of the FBI’s Office of Intelligence, and creation of three new sections in the Office of Intelligence for improved efficiency and workload-management (Department of Justice, n.d.). Further, the government established fusion centres to serve as primary focal points for the gathering and analysis of threat-related information among territorial, local, state, and federal partners (Department of Justice, n.d.).

The establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was one of the far-reaching bureaucratic measures enacted in response to the 9/11 attacks. The aim of the DHS was to coordinate national strategies for protecting the country against terrorism (Department of Justice, n.d.).